Have you ever thought about renting a company or renting yourself? Intimacy is increasingly difficult to acquire and sustain in the present age. Rental, would be a solution to the party?

"Alas at the end of the year, or no one to accompany, do not quickly reduce the price formal?" You are welcome to buy me. 」

On the next day of Christmas, a piece of text appeared on Taiwan's face book community. This time, not out of clear furniture, clothing, but 25-year-old girl PO-wen rental their own.

"Product name" for rent
"Commodity status" 25 years old, single
"Price" 888
"Venue" Big Taipei

Rental reasons, the first line, the girl wrote simple, the end of the year, no one to accompany, welcome everyone to buy her time, her price formal, for a possible warm company.


Photo source |unsplash

Then, changed a turn.

"Payment method can be used in a magical APP, directly invite others and pay by credit card, rest assured that you will not call to the convenience store to buy points." If I feel bad after meeting, I can still refuse to pay for this APP (but I'm really humorous and won't let you suffer). As you choose to meet the location, but I personally prefer Xinyi District, convenient to have a lot of entertainment to choose from. 6th basically have free time to keep an appointment, weekdays evening about eight o ' clock before work. This app called YAMKR, in this cold to need warm time, it is very necessary to download a wave to buy a friend. All that money can solve is trivial. 」

In the Qing Tai Po to rent their own, has been very topical, and then careless with the payment method: An app, to "buy friends warm themselves, money can be solved, is small" point-style closure.

Everyone looked at the interest, the fun at the same time is also a smoke and mirrors. Real rental, or App industry, no one knows, can be sure that the article is indeed in the cold season to ignite the topic, the message quickly broken hundred, praise thousands, may be this year out of the largest community of the most fiery paste.

The trend of globalization: warm rental, emotional labor has a price

In fact, the rental of male and female friends, rental hugs, rent with sleep, rent uncle, has long been not new. The rise of the emerging intimacy industry reflects the fact that when technology, cities and capitalism are intertwined, the pace of life is accelerating and time is increasingly fragmented, it is increasingly difficult for people living in them to have enough space and time to develop, nurture and sustain a long-term relationship.

But people still need the warmth and intimacy that comes with intimacy. Then what? Renting intimacy becomes a "technology, city, and capitalism" Ride, Jie Fang: Emotional Labor is priced, the use of the logic of capitalism, the intervention of science and technology, so that the rental process more rapid, convenient, transparent, relatively reassuring; urban space a variety of fresh fun and taste, more can Jian the first signs of tension and embarrassment.

Japan said that the rental of male and female friends for "レンタル/That Girl", the service is fashionable for many years, casually point to open any website, a variety of service processes, prices and even dating teaching, readily available.


Picture Source | Screenshot from rentalkareshi.com

2016 Japan TBS Television announced the winter drama "Rent Love" (レンタルの) to rent a girlfriend for the story blueprint, multiplied by Cosplay elements, the heroine is "rental lover" company staff, known as the No.1 of the strongest girlfriend, can cater to the requirements of different guests to change the shape and words and deeds , so that those who met at first sight of themselves.


Picture Source | "Rent Love" stills

In Hong Kong, there is another proprietary English name abbreviation for rental of PTBF/GF (part-time boy/girlfriend). Such sexual services have also been prevalent in the Hong Kong network in recent years. Through money, you can buy a short "relationship", of course, what the "couple" will do, the line is entirely different from person to person. PTBF/GF will also be listed in IG (Instagram) Charging mode and service type, Ming buy Ming sell.


Photo source |ig PTBF

In the United Kingdom, there are also dating sites such as seeking arrangement, a mordant sugar heart (Sugar Daddy) and Sugar Heart Baby (Sugar baby). Men with age and resources pay, care and care for young girls. Foreign media "Vice" visit sugar Heart Daddy, they also understand that, "I help the girl to pay tuition, return is a beautiful girl's time, an excellent girlfriend." "The girl helped him pick the clothes to match," we go shopping together. Of course the rest, we are like the relationship between male and female friends. "(Extended reading:" Gender Watch "Sugar Daddy's Modern love: Can money buy a lover?) )


Picture Source | Source

Is she materializing herself?

Go back to the clear Taiwan big paste, since the rental of men and women have been so flattering, so let yourself why still cause a lot of enthusiastic echo? Perhaps it still has to do with the nature of the platform itself. Clear Taiwan has always been the exchange of goods, no one out of the clear/rent themselves.

Emotional labor market, the total difficulty to escape the heterosexual frame, message string almost exclusively male netizens, jokes or serious, "excuse me, is there any inventory?" "Some so-and-so finally can get off LU!" 」

Female netizens more silence, at most joking said for a male friend rent one, as if to ensure their own main position: I am not trapped in the "goods" position of women. Paying means the main body in the business, not the grabs object, to alleviate the anxiety that may be object-oriented by sex.

However, the message string there is no other heterogeneous voice, we may be in the hearts of mixed emotions, not to speak plainly.

The girl in the Po-Wen also has no words to say about renting permission, opening unlimited imagination. So as usual, "basic assistance to sex!" The message is also available. Whenever women overflow the patriarchal framework of the single couple, it is always easy to fall into the category of "Bad Woman".

However, it is also these "bad women", the real body challenges the patriarchal regulation of female sexual rights, and physical use of the way. For example, there are some interesting discourses in foreign countries, which suggest that sugar-heart baby (Sugar baby) is likely to be a feminist practitioner (WHY Sugar babies ARE feminists). Because of their active choice of life style, "valence" emotional labor, the thoughtful, gentle, intimate to become present.

Therefore, if the main character of the Po text in the body posture, independent of their time to rent, independent choice to spend time with the object, choose Price, said materialization may strongly worded, more likely to misinterpret the meaning of "materialization" (objectification).

Materialization/objectification, simply put, is the human body as an object, is to be seen, be used. What's more, the fragments of the body are cut to represent the whole. For example, the most common to women's breasts to focus on the review, classification evaluation, ignoring the chest is not a self, but a part of the human body, and people are feeling, can experience the "subject." (Gender Education Library of words, 2014, Shumei.) )

In other words, when a person chooses to use time as a commodity on the shelves, it is not the same as working with work. Just here, she is not a social recognition of "job skills", but emotional labor. In other words, emotional labor is not a long time through experience, knowledge accumulated into a professional skills? Will the emotional labor of the price, not also more clear their own resources to make the choice?

So, we also see the working people will work after the time, the possibility of reuse. When low pay becomes a reality, and the desire to retain leisure time after work, in the leisure at the same time, the sale of a long time forced to skilled "emotional labor", but also become a seemingly balanced option-both to earn a little money, but also to preserve entertainment.

But the movie "The American Murderer" also highlights the dark side of the dating market: anything that someone can afford to pay for is likely to be at the mercy of anyone. When intimacy becomes a paid service, part of the emotion and body become traded goods, the parties how to deal with the power line, in the payment of respect for the seller is still the main body, rather than the arbitrary treatment of the object, will vary according to individual circumstances. (Extended reading: Rethinking Valentine's Day: Desire and Profit!) Dark side of the dating market )


Image Source | "American murderer" stills

Discussion of intimate relationship rental services, is always a feminist dilemma, the situation is always different, as a generalized, it may be caught in the violence of the object of the party.

Love, this is a resource

From the rental of men and women, to the rental company, intimate relationship looks increasingly blurred, but there is one thing more clear: love, in fact, is a resource.

Love this vocabulary is too abstract, rental services are clearly dismantled "love" in the special tenderness, thoughtfulness, intimacy, in fact, is the time, emotional labor, physical labor process and results. Giving love means giving time to care for each other's emotions and bodies, which is a precious resource for human being.

But when one or the other sex in an intimate relationship is long expected to do more work than the other, then we have to think about the natural anticipation, whether it comes from the social structure.

Further, when women are often sellers of rental services, does it mean that the market needs more women to provide services? At the same time, whether contemporary women may be clearer than in the past awareness: in the intimate relationship of the pay, in fact, is a kind of labor.

Renting out men and women is not the best Jie Fang of contemporary intimacy, but at least it reveals one thing, Love is a resource, and every resource can be priced. Investment is not taken for granted, to cherish, to pay, to return. "Love" should not be the death of gold medals, not "I love You", can be unlimited demands.

Rent a boyfriend and girlfriend also provides Cosplay-style love imagination. If in the present age we can no longer meet through a single partner or relationship, if even we have many repeating, identity and demand, and the system is difficult to satisfy, then, "the structure of the relationship should be designed to cater to the people in the relationship, rather than let people choose to adapt to some kind of abstract perfect relationship" ( "Moral Wave girl", Sch Eton and Jennatt Hati).


Picture Source | "Rent Love" stills

Rental company, rent the boyfriend and girlfriend, pointed out that love is a resource exchange, people must know their position in the love market, understand their own resources, learning negotiations, consultations and operations. Is that no one can escape, the body will carry out the practice seriously. Do you see these phenomena as curiosity? But this is just the beginning, are you ready?

It's hard for people who need intimacy to say, "This is my pass", but it's hard to be satisfied with where you are in the love market. " If you feel unfair and want to know who has made the rules of the game, no matter what sex, I think you will want to go along with feminism, because this is one of the important concerns and an outlaw of feminism.

Women are obsessed with sex primary school hall

Materialization/Objectification

Objectification

According to Lorraine Code (2000) edited by Encyclopedia of Feminist theories, the introduction of "objectification" is as follows: "Objectification" is a feminist image that has been used in images, artworks and popular media since the 1970 's. Refers to the woman is regarded as passive, gender (gendered) of the object, rather than a complete human body (fully human subjects).

Reference data:"A Library of Gender Education", 2014, Shumei.